1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to new imides and their salts as well as their use as surfactant agents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Owing to their high surface activity, chemical compounds containing perfluoroalkyl groups have numerous applications in technology. Typical applications are the suppression of sprays in electroplating, the improvement of levelling and wetting properties of lacquers, dispersion binders or floor maintenance agents, and the spreading of water on burning nonpolar liquids during the use of fire extinguishing agents that form a water film (cf. J. N. MeuBdoerffer and H. Niederpru/ m, Chemikerzeitung 104 (1980) 45-52). Examples of such compounds are:
C.sub.8 F.sub.17 SO.sub.3 !K PA1 C.sub.7 F.sub.15 COO! Na! PA1 C.sub.8 F.sub.17 SO.sub.2 N(C.sub.2 H.sub.5)CH.sub.2 COO!K PA1 C.sub.8 F.sub.17 SO.sub.3 ! N(CH.sub.2 CH.sub.3).sub.4 !. PA1 a) electrochemical fluorination, PA1 b) telomerization of perfluoroolefins, especially tetrafluoroethylane PA1 c) oligomerization of tetrafluoroethylene.
Routes for the synthesis of the above compounds are likewise described in "J. N. MeuBdoerffer and H. Niederpru/ m, Chemikerzeitung 104 (1980) 45-52". Furthermore, according to DE-A 2 239 817, bis-perfluoroalkanesulphonamides of the general formula ##STR3## and their use as surfactants are known.
The perfluorinated starting compounds from which the aforementioned compounds are produced are themselves produced by three different synthetic routes:
Since the methods mentioned for producing the perfluorinated starting materials are technically very demanding, the resulting costs in the production of the desired chemical compounds containing perfluoroalkyl groups are high.